FRANK SOLIVAN & DIRTY KITCHEN

SERVE UP A HIGHLY ANTICIPATED, SELF-TITLED RELEASE AUGUST 17TH

Guest artists include:
John Cowan, Rob Ickes, Moondi Kline and Megan McCormick

“It’s flat-out awesome!”
~Kyle Cantrell, Sirius XM Radio~
"Don't miss it. Solivan is a major talent!"
~Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine~
"It would be relatively simple to describe Frank using standard marketing jargon and cliché terms of praise, but his creativity and unparalleled artistry to begin where those descriptions leave off."
~Bluegrass Breakdown~

"Interesting, innovative, traditionally contemporary bluegrass! Great listening!"
~Rhonda Vincent ~
(Grammy nominated, 7X IBMA Female Vocalist, IBMA Entertainer of the Year)

"Frank's performance was one of the true eye openers for me.
Great mandolin playing and singing."
~Tim Stafford~
(Grammy & IBMA Award winning musician, songwriter, producer)


NASHVILLE, TENN - You don't have to listen very hard to hear the buzz. It's all around. Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen are turning up the heat on stage and fans and fellow artists are taking notice. This former vocalist, mandolin, fiddle, and guitar player for the United States Navy's elite country and bluegrass band, Country Current, has put together one of the most anticipated bands to come across the bluegrass trail in recent memory.
On Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, their self-titled release scheduled to hit streets on August 17, the band stirs the pot with intrigue of the best kind, with an album that offers up a smorgasbord of musical sounds, combined with multiple layers of instrumental expertise, stellar songwriting, solid lead and harmony vocal deliveries and years of experience, for one of those recordings you’ll never want to stop listening to.
"These guys have the whole package," says Grammy nominated, 11X IBMA Dobro Player of the Year, Rob Ickes. "Incredible music by a great combination of players. They can sing, play and write extremely well! This is the best new bluegrass band..." High praises indeed.
Solivan is a singer of power and passion and a writer whose articulate songs go straight to the heart. A multi-instrumentalist who combines the pure, hard drive of classic bluegrass with twenty-first century sophistication, Solivan and company are increasingly in demand at festivals and venues across the country.
He is joined by Baltimore/D.C. five string-banjo master Mike Munford, Stefan Custodi as the heartbeat of Dirty Kitchen on upright bass, and flatpick guitar wizard Lincoln Meyers. Solivan finds an outlet that suits his talents to a T, combining his unique and varied experience in the middle of three top-notch musicians who lift each other up and let each person's talents shine through in the most impressive of ways.
The album's 12 tracks, five of which are written by Solivan, vascilate between melancholy lyrics sung alongside hard driving playing on "Driftin' Apart," to the upbeat, happy sounds expressing hope for the future on "Together We Will Fly," to the swapping back and forth of steaming mandolin and banjo solos on the instrumental "Line Drive," to the thought provoking, socially conscious "Left Out In The Cold," a song that takes a glimpse into the world and prejudices of the homeless community.
Katy Daley with WAMU Radio's Bluegrass Country in Washington, D.C. is very familiar with the band. “Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen could easily be described as a group of super pickers. But that would only be half the story because the vocals easily match the instrumental work. The result is a powerful collection of hard-driving, contemporary acoustic music...”
A Modesto, CA native, and transplant to Alaska in the 1990's, Solivan moved to teach fiddle, mandolin, and guitar and took first prize in the Alaska State Fair fiddle contest four years in a row. While serving briefly as the first chair violin in the University of Alaska’s Symphony, he also toured with bluegrass legends Doug Dillard and Ginger Boatwright. And even though he was barely twenty years old, he acted as a key mentor to members of Bearfoot (Winners of the 2001 National Band Competition at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in CO) and other young Alaskan artists.
Solivan’s 2002 debut recording, I Am A Rambler, revealed an exciting new talent on the bluegrass horizon and proved a hit with listeners and DJs alike. In the Alaska Public Radio Network’s Song Of The Year contest, four of Frank’s original songs from the album -“Day to Day,” “Dirty Kitchen,” “A Mother’s Hand,” and “I Am A Rambler”- placed in the top of their respective categories. Most recently, "Day To Day" took Honorable Mention in the 2007 International Songwriting Contest.
His picking and singing on I Am A Rambler shine with polish and authority even when sharing the tracks with Nashville-based artists Rob Ickes, David Grier, Byron House, Mark Winchester, Shad Cobb, Richard Bailey, JD Blair, Kathy Chiavola, and Billy Davis. The album was followed by the 2006 recording, Selfish Tears, a worthy successor. Solivan penned eight of the CD's eleven tracks, and his performances displayed yet another level of added strength and maturity.
FS&DK has also become a favorite on the House Concert circuit where Solivan & Co. not only serve up an evening gumbo of top-notch musical talent, but as a gourmet cook, Solivan treats the evening's guests to a carefully created, full course pre-show feast for a unique evening called The Dirty Kitchen Experience: Dinner with the Band. With a solid program in place for marketing the Dirty Kitchen Experience, fans of the band's music are finding that an evening with FS&DK is more than just an earful of fine music. It's a full tilt experience that hits all of the senses because Frank believes that music and food are the two greatest ways to bring people together.
Solivan is now a mainstay on the Washington D.C. bluegrass circuit, a city he moved to after leaving Alaska. A few noteworthy venues where Solivan has played include The Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival (Grass Valley, CA), The Kennedy Center (Washington, DC), The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival (Ancramdale, NY), The Anchorage Folk Festival (Anchorage, AK), The Alaska Folk Festival (Juneau, AK), The Blueberry Bluegrass Festival (Alberta, Canada), and The Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival (Gettysburg, PA).
Visit Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen~  On the Web